With irenic tone Bradley reveals the theological justification of racial separation inherent within the victimization philosophy of both 1G and 2G black theology. His analysis demonstrates how the vision of Cone and his intellectual offspring contributes to rather than resolves DuBois’ problem of the twentieth (now twenty-first!) century.

I hope you will get a copy this book, even if Black Liberation Theology does not appear to be a major concern of your immediate ethnic context. For Bradley’s work will provide you with some good tools to understand nominal Christianity in the African American context. Hopefully this will help you reach many religious-but-not-righteous, church-going African Americans with the Gospel. Congrats to Prof. Bradley on providing the church with this resource. Job well done!

In light of the one-year anniversary of Where Are All The Brothers?, I wish to give away some books to a ministry to an HBCU campus. It is important to see that the ministry is “to” the campus, not necessarily “on” an HBCU campus, although “on” could qualify under “to.” It can be a ministry to students on the campus, to faculty on the campus, or to staff on the campus. All segments of such campuses need to be reached with the Gospel, and reaching any one of these groups could mean for a wider outreach to the entire campus.

I would like to give away six (6) copies of the book for evangelistic purposes – five (5) for a small group or discipleship group and one (1) to the group’s leader – to the first campus ministry to an HBCU who writes me one page or less that provides me with the following information on the intended use of the book:

Name of college campus and location

Name of campus ministry and sponsoring organization (i.e., church or para-church ministry)

Name of leader of the ministry to the campus

Your plan for using the book in the process of discipleship (i.e., weekly small group or monthly book reading, etc…)

Your plan for using the book in evangelism (i.e., we will give these copies away when finished studying them, we will purchase additional copies to give away once we have studied the book, or we will give one to every new college student/faculty member that joins our study, etc…)

Campus ministries that already have received copies of the book as gifts cannot apply for the giveaway. The letter must be postmarked by June 8, 2009. I will announce the winner on this blog.

A special note of thanks goes to the brother in Christ living in South Carolina who provided the funds for this and another giveaway coming in a few days. Your friendship is genuine and your love for the lost is humbling.

It should go without saying that one does not need to be the “B” of HBCU in order to participate. If you are not “B,” but have a Gospel ministry to an HBCU campus, I am grateful for your obedience to Christ in this form.

Fri May 1 Q 123: Means of Acceptable Works123. By what means, the, are they made acceptable?It is by faith. That is to say, that a person is assured in his conscience that God will not examine him harshly, but covering his defects and impurities by the purity of Jesus Christ, He will regard him as perfect.

When I was a teenager, my father allowed me to earn money for free spending by washing his car. It was a simple task, but one I could not ever seem to complete perfectly, (and the same could be said for cutting the lawn). For after I finished my washing, my father would come to inspect the car and find spots that I had not cleaned well, or sometimes, not at all (i.e., between the bottom of the front fender and the front door). The problem was not that my dad was a stickler, but that I was not a professional car detailer! Dad was trying to encourage me to be faithful. However, in the Lord’s grace, I also came to understand the need for humility in thinking a job was done perfectly.

Each believer needs humility about his own works, always saying, “not I, but grace” (I Cor 15:10; cf. Rom. 7:25; 12:6; 15:15; I Cor 3:10; 2 Tim 2:1). The catechism is correct to remind us that our assurance of the acceptability of our works before God – works wrought by the power of the Spirit, no less! – rests in the Father’s acceptance of Christ and his perfect, sinless, fully obedient work alone (Jn 8:29; 2 Cor 5:21; Gal 2:20-21). We have this assurance by faith (cf. Gal 5:6). Never will our works be perfect in the sight of God. Even attempts to use “perfect” to describe exceptional athletic play or a sermon derived from a very meticulous and sound exegesis of a text of Scripture are out of place. For the “perfect” game might be riddled with mistakes only visible to the coach’s eye and player’s mind; the “perfect’ sermon might come with pride from the preacher – unseen to the preacher and the audience – about his own exegetical or theological skill, and/or a misapplication of the correct concept behind the tense or aspect of a Greek verb that is noticed only years later. There are no perfect dates, perfect school choices, or perfect meals; neither is there any perfect leading of worship services, perfect ministry to a widow in need, or perfect counseling sessions. All of our works are tainted with sin, inadequacy, pride, and meaninglessness (cf. Eccl 1:2-3). They might be complete, but never are they righteous. Only Christ alone acted in perfection before the Father and is accepted as such. We are accepted in him (2 Cor 5:21; Eph 2:10).

The good thing about my dad is that after he would go back and wipe over a spot I had missed, he would still pay me for my incomplete job now made complete by him. I am grateful our Heavenly Father will do even greater for sinners on the basis of Christ’s blood and his sin-washing work on the Cross.